Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer is taking some positives from the announced federal budget.

Among those positives include capital funding to Saskatoon’s VIDO and $3- billion for long-term care.

However Harpauer says there are some negatives including no additional dollars for mental health. She says the province  has considered that a budget item for three years in a row now.

Harpauer says the federal debt is significant and growing beyond anything they have ever had.

Harpauer says we should all be concerned by the projected 354 billion dollar deficit for this fiscal year with no plan yet to address the country’s growing debt in the coming years.

The Liberal government aims to drop the current deficit of 354 billion dollars to just under 155 billion dollars in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Donna Harpauer said she cannot remember a time when federal officials did not give a technical briefing in advance of the budget being dropped, adding that she’s scrambling to get some more information on the plan.

She says she’s not sure yet if this affects the province in a major way or not when it comes to access to credit markets and credit ratings.

She added that they are looking forward to more details on long-term funding and how flexible federal programs will be to the provinces.

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